Halford & Brough in the Morning - What Can The Canucks Expect From Jake DeBrusk?

Episode Date: July 2, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with the WhatChaos Hockey Show and Bruins analyst Pete Blackburn (3:00) as the Canucks and Boston swapped UFAs yesterday, plus they get radio PxP man Brendan Batchelor's reaction to all of yesterday's moves for Vancouver (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

🎵 7-0-1 on a Tuesday. Big Band Tuesday is slightly shifted to cheesy 70s sitcom Tuesday. I like this. I do too, as long as there's strings in it. We're good. I'm not complaining. It's very nice. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Halford & Brough in the Morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda, North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. And what did he win? They have a friendly one, a 1977 Chevy Chevelle. Just don't touch it. So I rented an old U-Haul truck last weekend to move some stuff. I almost swore on the air there, by the way. Move some stuff to the dump.

And my kid gets in it, and he's like, oh, wow, this is so cool. And he was just winding the window up and down because he had never been in a car that didn't have power windows before. He's like, this is so cool. I'm like, it's not a feature. That's just an old truck. We never had power windows growing up because my dad would be like, just is so cool. I'm like, it's not a feature. That's just an old truck. We never had power windows growing up because my dad would be like, just one more thing to go wrong.

That's a good attitude, Dad. You know what you don't break? A manual window. Dad, I broke the window. As the thing comes off. I had a car growing up that had a broken window. I had a vice grip on the bolt. Oh, they call that the Hamilton window.

I would pull up to the fast food restaurant and be like, hold on a second. Let me get my vise grip out of here. That was great. There were no seatbelts. Your dad was right. No seatbelts in the backseat, and you had a vise grip to put up and down the window.

Yeah, it was the nicest car in Hamilton. Hold on to something if we swerve. Okay, we are at hour two of the program. Pete Blackburn is going to join us in just a moment here for all the swaps that the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins did yesterday. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer.

Meticulously brewed for quality and taste, Primetime is full flavor. Without compromise, you can get some, get some at a liquor store near you, or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews.

So, Orfite, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. Our next guest has been on this show many a time. We're very excited to have him back. Pete Blackburn here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Peter. How are you? I'm good. Before we get into anything, want to say that uh growing up

um my manual window broke off in the middle of cranking it and it was one of the most horrifying moments of like my teenage years just trying to crank up that window and having the handle come off uh yeah so power window is the way to go for sure uh p we wanted to get you obvious i'm sure you're aware of this. The Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins just decided to switch a bunch of players onto each other's teams yesterday. But we want to know the story of Jake DeBrusque. And who better to ask than a diehard Boston Bruins fan?

Tell us about what we're getting here in Vancouver for the next seven years. Jake DeBrusque. Jake DeBrusque is a very good player who is not very good all the time. And that's been kind of the frustrating book on Jake DeBrusque is a very good player who is not very good all the time. And that's been kind of the frustrating book on Jake DeBrusque. He does a lot of things. He's well-liked in the room. But the inconsistency and the streakiness of his game can be difficult to deal with. When he's good, he makes an impact.

And when he is good, he tends to be good for good stretches. But when he's not good, he's invisible for long stretches as well. That's why the numbers aren't gaudy. He's well-liked. He does a lot, and he's a very emotional player. I think that that kind of feeds into the streakiness. He kind of gets between his own ears a bit, I think that that kind of feeds into the streakiness. He kind of gets between his own ears a bit, I think. A little bit perfect with Petey then.

Terrific. A match made in heaven. I'm sorry. I just lost it there. Did he have – was Bruce Cassidy especially hard on Jake DeBrusque? I do believe so. And I think it's clear that they didn't really get along very well. And that's where the trade request came from.

And that's where the trade request being rescinded came from once Bruce Cassidy was fired. So their relationship was pretty adversarial. And so, like I said, he is known as a pretty emotional guy. And, yeah, Cassidy is pretty tough on his players, and I think Jake DeBrusque was one of them. Now, did DeBrusque, this is what I've read, did he round out his game as he went from younger player to more of a veteran on the Bruins?

And I'm talking about two-way play and penalty killing and those things? Oh yeah, yeah. He's a good all-around player. He's a 200-foot player. You know, the Bruins probably wished that he would be a bit more offensive as his kind of career rounded out. He only had 19 goals last year, and I think they needed a bit more scoring. But he is a really good 200-foot player, and that's something that I think he's proud of, and he should be. From a fan's perspective, because I know, I mean,

I was watching you and DJ talk about the exodus of Linus Allmark and how upset you guys were and that you guys loved him and you loved the pairing with him and Swayman and everything. Is there that same level of angst from Bruins fans about losing DeBrusque or was he not as beloved by the fan base? Definitely not the same level of angst.

I think that a lot of the Bruins fans liked Jake DeBrusque. They didn't love him. And it's kind of what you expect with a guy who is as streaky as he's been. There's been a certain level of frustration. And I also think that there was writing on the wall a little bit that they weren't advancing in contract extensions and his time here was turbulent. And I think a lot of Bruins fans did realize that a fresh start might be good for him and might be good for the team

to just go in another direction. So I don't think that there was as much, you know, this sucks kind of reaction as there was to Lena Solmark, even though the writing was on the wall there too. We're speaking to Pete Blackburn here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Real quick, I want to run through the other two guys. It was only one

year for Danton Heinen in Boston. This time around, he had obviously his second tour of duty with the team. What did you see from him this season? Because this was at least statistically one of the better seasons of his career. I'll tell you what, I love Danton Heinen. He's not an amazing player, but he is

a really good player, a detailed player who does basically everything right. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes. The scoring and the offensive production that comes with him is pretty much considered an added bonus if you get it. But if you're looking for a bottom six player who you can trust, Dan Heinen is absolutely that guy. And for the value and the dollars that Vancouver got him at, I wish the Bruins had kept him.

But, you know, he is just a really, really solid bottom six player. One of the things that general manager Patrick Alvin wanted to improve this offseason was the speed of the team. Will DeBrusque and Heinen help in that regard um I mean not really they're kind of middle of the pack uh you know the Bruins weren't exactly known as a uh speedy team for the past few years the Bruins themselves said they wanted to get faster so uh you, I don't necessarily know if I would consider that a strength of either one of those guys' games. Pete, with the final guy coming from Boston to Vancouver, Derek Forbort.

Aside from the we now have Forbort license plates in the gift shop, we don't have a ton of information on the guy. So what can you let us know about Derek Forbort on the blue line? He's a tough meat and potatoes kind of guy. He'll block a lot of shots. He's really good on the PK. But he's not exactly super reliable on the blue line. I think that Bruins fans were clamoring for him to not be a regular part of that third pair

by the end of his time here. And so you won't see much spilled milk over his departure in Boston. But he is a pretty valuable player in terms of getting dirty and getting greasy. And when he got hurt, the Bruins had to go out and get Andrew Peek at the trade deadline, and they were essentially looking for a Derek Forbert replacement. So even though he's not a top four defenseman or probably not even a top five defenseman, he is valuable and brings an element to a blue line that teams need and covet. Okay, so now to the other side of this, the incoming players to Boston.

How were you feeling after news broke that they had signed both Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadarov from Vancouver? I mean, I like the fits for both of them. You know, I think I would consider both of them a pretty big gamble. I don't know. You guys have seen probably more than I have of those two guys. But, you know, I like Elias Lindholm being down the middle and they really needed a top six center. And that's not an easy position to fill. And so when you do fill it in free agency, you're probably going to overpay.

And I think they probably overpaid a little bit for in the Lindholm to gamble. But I also like Zdorov on the back end and kind of him being that second pairing defenseman that you can pair with, with Carlo and kind of pushes the depth down on the blue line but uh I think the bigger concern is is what those contracts are going to look like sort of on the back half yeah I'd be more concerned with Lindholm myself like I think Zdorov will give you for any they're both the same age but Zdorov looked to me like he was, that's a weird way to put it, more in his prime than Lindholm. But Lindholm did play well at times just because he's a speed of the Bruins, but it might fit in because I think when the Bruins were at their best

is when they almost played what you would describe as a plotting style, but it was very intentional, and it was a powerful game that they played, but I don't know if they want to play that style anymore. Yeah, that's kind of why I like to the fit for lindholm not not for like a new style but because he fits the way that the bruins already play and kind of like the surgicalness of his game yeah and how he thinks the game and and like obviously the two-way the two-way ability and 200 foot ability of lindholm i think is what, what you want in the center. If you, if you're looking for like a top six center and you know, there's been comparisons to you know, he's a worse Charlie Coyle.

And, and I don't, I don't agree with that. I think he's, he's better than Charlie Coyle you know, certainly has the capability of being better offensively. Like I guess I would ask, what is Elias Lindholm offensively from what you've gleaned? Because a few years ago he had 42 goals, but last year was not that guy and hasn't been that guy for his career. So what did you see offensively?

Not a whole lot of dynamism. Is that a word? Dynamic play? It is now, Fred. It is now? Yeah, I wouldn't consider him a dynamic player, but I would consider him just a really smart two-way center. Now, if you put him on a line with Pasternak

or you put him on a line with Marshawn, he might put up some points. I mean, I don't think it was any surprise that he had his best offensive season when he was playing with Kachuk and Goudreau, right? So I think he's smart enough to be able to use those players and be in a position where he can be the most responsible player on that line. Not that a guy like Brad Marchand needs to be babysat or anything,

but I'll be curious to see who he plays with in Boston. Have there been any inklings as to what the combinations could be up front for Boston? No. I mean, all that I've heard is that they don't want to play Pavel Zaka down the middle anymore. They're going to move him to left wing again. And so, I mean, when you look at what they got last year in terms of production from Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zaka, two guys that have never really been top six centers in their life. And they ended up getting more point production than Bergeron and Krejci the year prior. Like that's, that's gotta be encouraging when you're talking about Lindholm's offensive output, because he has done it and has produced almost at a point per game level at the peak of his production.

Him in the top six playing with whoever he plays with, whether it's Pasternak, whether it's anybody else in that top six, I think you're looking at probably an uptick in what you were going to get from Pavel Zaka. So that's where the encouragement lies for me. But like I said, the length of that deal and what you're paying for, I think maybe you're looking at an overpay. But they're desperate, and they needed a top six guy.

Pete, this was great, man. Thanks a lot for taking the time to do it. We really appreciate it. Yeah, of course. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for coming on. That's Pete Blackburn from the What Chaos Hockey Show here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Sometimes I think our listeners just hear what they want to hear. So Pete was very thoroughly describing all the players that the Canucks had acquired from Boston. And for me, a listener in the interview, because that's what I do when people are talking, I listen. Yeah, you're known for that. I am known as an attentive listener that never gets distracted by the two televisions that are in our studio listening to pete i'm like those are pretty well-rounded nuanced thorough

breakdowns pros and cons of all the guys and all everyone did was to classic boston hater can't believe he's crapping all over the canucks signings. And then I responded to one of our texters and I said, sir or ma'am, whatever. Pete started his answer about Dan Heinen as I love Dan. I wish the Bruins would have kept him. I don't know how much more positive you can be. And he called Jake to brusque,

a really good hockey player. How much more effusive can you be in your praise? Orbert on the other hand? Well, well, what do you, what do you want him to say about a third pair guy? We're really going to miss him. Yeah, yeah.

He was also extremely injured last year, which only allowed him to play 30-plus games. Yeah, he needed like a conditioning stint down in the AHL at one point.

Yeah. Because he was hurt and been away from the game so long. Forbert was a first-round pick way back in the day. He was 15th overall in 2010.

So, I mean, Forbore, like he's going to probably be in that mix with Friedman and Juleson at the sort of the six, seven,

eight defenseman because while he's been a capable NHL or he's by no means a lock to play like he didn't feature. I don't think he featured in all

of Boston's playoff games, if I'm not mistaken. That's why think he featured in all of Boston's playoff games, if I'm not mistaken. That's why, as Pete alluded to, they brought in Andrew Peek. Sounds like DeBrusque's going to be a fit with Petey. I had to take that, right? When he's like, he's in his head a little bit. I'm like, oh, boy.

Not again. Here we go again. Two of them. What if they cancel each other out, though? What if they get in each other's heads and figure it out together? Maybe there's a mental thing they got going. I'll go back to what I reiterated off the top. I'll be playing 4D chess here.

Well, okay, that's a good point, because I think that when you're talking about 4D chess, maybe you can kind of skew that common phrase now into saying, they're looking further down the road. This isn't just about, do we get Petey a line mate. It's when we get to the playoffs, not if we get to the playoffs. We need to find him a guy that also lacks confidence. We can build each other up. We'll crumble under the pressure.

Focus. When we get to the playoffs and we don't crumble under the pressure. No, I mean, Jabreski is a playoff performer. Ask Leafs fans. In his last two playoff seasons, he's played 20 games. He has 17 points. Yeah. Yeah.

He's clutch. He also played with a broken hand, I think, last year, which is why his goal scoring was down. I was going to say, he also played with two not great centers in Boston. Yeah. This is going to be probably the most talented guy that he's going to get to play with with regularity if he is matched up with Pettersson. There is a reason that Jake DeBrusque wanted to come to Vancouver, and it wasn't just the seven years and 5.5 million per.

There was an obvious connection where it's like, hey, Jake, this might be considered light tampering, but would you like to come to Vancouver and potentially be Elias Pettersson's winger? Yeah. I mean. Well, he was rumored to go to Seattle, right? And then maybe the Canucks were likeersen's winger. Right. I mean, well, he was rumored to go to Seattle. Right. And then maybe the Canucks were like, look at their centers. Right.

This is a big opportunity. You want to play with that lineup? Yeah. Boring. Like, uh, I think at the, at the end of free agency,

basically, you know, we have a lot of hope that things are happening. Uh, hopefully they have the right player for PD to play with. Hopefully, they're faster. And Patrick Alvien said, in the transition game. That's where he wants them to be faster.

So puck turns over, boom, you go the other way. That was not their specialty, especially in the playoffs. They didn't have much of a transition game, and I think that's partly going to be on the coaching staff, too, to devise some better ways to get the puck going the other way and get it going the other way faster. I know they were so concerned defensively that they didn't necessarily want all these guys blowing the zone.

I hope they don't mean trades for another defenseman. Hopefully they have enough depth and puck moving ability on the back end. You think there's got to be one more move. They can't be satisfied with this, right? There's got to be something else that they're thinking of. But they might also just wait. But they might have to wait until the deadline.

I don't know. They might just wait until in season because Durant says a pretty good piece out on The Athlet athletic right now and just talking about how it does make things tougher when you are in LTIR and they aren't in LTIR yet they could be if they put Tucker Poolman on there and they could so they could in theory sign another player and be okay well he will be but wellTIR. Well, not necessarily. Would he not? Not necessarily because you don't have to put that player on LTIR. And there are advantages to not putting them on LTIR

because then you build up cap space that you can use at the deadline. So, and then the last thing I would hope for is hopefully the PK can keep improving or at the very least remain fine. Like, not a problem. They did lose quite a few penalty killers, the PK can keep improving or at the very least remain fine. Not a problem. They did lose quite a few penalty killers, but they brought in some guys who are, you know, one of the reasons they were hesitant to

bring him out of the lineup in Edmonton was he is such a good penalty killer. And you saw the Edmonton Oilers penalty kill during the playoffs and it was pretty darn good. Forbert is a good penalty killer. Well, Sherwood and Heinen are going to kill penalties. And DeBrus might too.

Yeah. So it was all, the one thing I do like about this management group is they really do look at all the scenarios and they truly build a roster and not to pile on the previous regime, you know the way that group let the pk get in terms of the the they just they let it go to absolute hell they really did and you you were looking at the players that were killing penalties before there was the management change. And it was like, this is what you expect to be successful?

Like, are you crazy? At any rate, you know, I think there's a lot of question marks heading into training camp. And that'll be exciting. Will DeBrus have chemistry with Petey? Or, you know, sometimes you can't, you can't force chemistry. Right. But, and, and then I look, I think about a guy like Pod Colson, who's probably looking at all

those signings and going, uh, is there a spot for me? I was like, well, there is if you force it. Um, I also want to circle back on what you're saying about the blue line. Um, yeah. I want another top four defense. Well, the Canucks have eight guys under contract

on the blue line right now. I know, but most of them aren't top four. No, that's fair, but you can't even only carry so many guys. I know, I know. Like right now you're talking about Juleson and Friedman probably being on the outside. It's an awful decor. It's not that.

I just don't know how much. I wonder if they look at it and they're like, we've got eight guys. We've got eight guys that we feel are NHL caliber defensemen. Yeah. Juleson and Friedman are more tweeners between, you know, they're fringe guys, but you could throw them in in a pinch. This is the group. I just think they need another second pair guy somehow.

Those are tough to come by and they're expensive. I know. That's going to be tough to come by. It's just, it doesn't look like that. If I was to point at one glaring weakness on the roster right now, it's defensively. I go back to when you stay in the playoff race. Can you stay in a playoff spot leading up to the deadline

and maybe get them then? That's what I'm saying. Like, maybe it's something like it's another deadline. Like, it's another Zdorov style acquisition at whatever... Or earlier than the deadline. I do wonder if what they might do

is what Bruff alluded to earlier is find another depth guy who's a puck-moving specialist. So you're not signing another big thumper as your ninth defenseman. Yeah. You're signing a guy

that is more... Big thumper. I ninth defenseman. You're signing a guy that is more. Big thumper. I mean, yeah, that's what they are. Juleson, you should interview Vincent Desjardins and just be like, you are a big thumper. Well, Vincent Desjardins, the big thumper himself. He's going to be on the show tomorrow. We're getting him on tomorrow, right? Did you say the big thumper himself?

Yeah. Six foot seven thumper. Vincent Desjardins is on the phone. Hello? Please do not call yeah um but yeah they they're instead of having another big guy that like oh that's his nickname now on this show at least yeah but you can't give it to one guy they have so many thumpers we can't just let him be the thumper but i think that because you talked about the boquist yeah you said there might be a guy that you can sign on did team. Did he go anywhere?

I don't even know. But just the idea of him, right? The concept of Boquist where, okay, you're signing a depth defenseman that brings totally different attributes. Maybe smaller, maybe undersized, but has the puck moving. Yeah, if you come up against a team that four checks really, really well. He's your Broberg. He's the guy that can go into the lineup and help out. I really do feel like this management group wants Hughes and Hronik split up. You can read between the lines of what they're saying.

They're just constantly talking about it. And Patrick Alvin said it yesterday. Maybe that's something that they have to experiment with. And I think you'll see that at training camp for sure and you'll see that in the pre-season now ultimately they might just go back to hughes and haronic sure and that's fine if they do but i really do think when when he said uh uh he actually used the phrase alvin carry their own d pair yep we didn't see if harona could do that last season because hughes andirona were so good together

that there was no real need to break them up. The team was doing well. You don't mess with success, but there were times in the playoffs when the Canucks were really having trouble getting out of their own end and creating

offense in the other end. Heck, getting shots on goal was a challenge for this team. And part of that hopefully is going to be solved if you do split them up and you can have more puck movers spread out and you can get that transition game one you need a guy to make a good first pass and two you need those you need that speed uh from the forwards to actually you know what skate down the ice yes this has been incredible analysis this it has been very good i'm very like and i'm suitably impressed and and i find that the faster skaters can transition faster down the ice. Now, it'll be hard to top that analysis. Remember Pavel Bure?

Yes, I do remember Pavel Bure. I noticed when he had the puck, the Canucks transition game was quite good. For more of this scintillating analysis, stay tuned, because Brendan Batchelor, the play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks, is going to join us. He may outdo what Jason Brough just did, but you'll have to listen

to the show to find out. Batch is going to join us next. We got another hour and a half, 90 minutes left on the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd

and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. It's his friend and bachelor, bachelor, bachelor.

Live from Rogers Arena, calling Canucks Games. It's his friend and bachelor, bachelor, bachelor. calling Canucks games. It is Brendan Batchelor. Batchelor. Batchelor. 7.33 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's

premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service or parts. We are in our two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for

quality and taste. Primetime is full flavor without compromise. You can get some, get some at a liquor store near you or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. The phone lines we go. Brendan Batchelor joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Brendan. How are you?

I'm well. How are you, Michael? I am well. Have you managed to come down from the euphoria of England's dramatic come-from-behind victory on Sunday morning? Well, it's strange because it was euphoria mixed with terror at what almost happened. So it wasn't like the usual, like, oh, your team gets a dramatic late win feeling.

It was more like relief and still frustration at the way they played throughout the game leading to that. So that's like common emotions for an England fan, though. So it's old hat at this point. I was listening to a podcast with um gary lineker alan scherer and is it uh michael richard michael richards and it was so funny because they were like yeah yeah they got the result they got the result but i can't i keep coming back to how dreadful they've been for four straight matches just awful then they'd rip them but then they'd check themselves then they'd be like, but then they'd check themselves.

Then they'd be like, but they are into the quarterfinals. They are into the quarterfinals. And it was, I mean, this is very classic England, all of this. And we won't bore the listeners anymore. Batch, what did you think of what the Canucks did yesterday? What did you like? What do you still have questions about? Well, I think it was a good day for them because on a day where there was a lot of money in term and some big contracts being thrown around,

I thought that all of the moves they made were sort of smart, calculated decisions that directly address the kind of team they want to be and the way they want to play under Rick Target. Now, what was he saying that he kind of liked it um batch was saying he hated it throw that onto his plate as we try and get him back uh no well because we've got to run through everyone is there anyone that we haven't uh gone into great detail yet with oh you know what i wanted to do now that we've got a second lad you can jump in can you tell me everything you know about Patera? He's the one guy we haven't talked about. He was like a victim of numbers in Vegas.

They had so many goalies. He's not a bad option to go with, actually. He was more along the lines of what Woodley was talking about yesterday, where it's like you can't have a proven NHL guy in that spot between Demko and Seelock. He's got a little bit of experience. I think he's the right fit. He's a perfect mold for a guy you can bring in there to work with Ian Clark. I think he's a nice pickup.

Okay. How are we doing with Batch? We got him back on the line now. Brendan Batch, we're going to try this again here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You got cut off mid-sentence there, Batch. So if you want to start again, the question was, what did you like? What do you still have thoughts or concerns about? Yeah, I think they had a pretty good day they um they made some decisions that i

think you know were sort of smart and targeted at their needs and the way that they want to play under rick tocket so um you know would it have been nice to land a jake gansel a high-end forward um you know that could produce it at a higher level in the top six i think it would have but at the same time they never really got the opportunity to talk to someone like Jake Gensel about that. So to not commit a huge dollar amount on someone or to chase the market because they missed out on Gensel, I think it was a good day for them.

I like the DeBrusque ad. I think they targeted special teams and their penalty kill in particular with some of the other signings like Forbert and Heinen. And, you know, all in all, I like what they did. If I have any questions about the roster now, it's more about, you know, lack of puck moving ability on the back end. But at the same time, they added a lot of speed on the wings. And when you have speed on the wings, maybe as long as your guys can make a first pass, as Patrick Alvin alluded to,

then you might not need as much puck moving ability. But that remains to be seen. It remains to be seen whether they're going to tweak their systems in terms of how they want to play and generate offense going into the season. But overall, you know, I think it was a really good day for them. I think they made some smart bets and really rounded out their forward group, especially further down the lineup. What do you think some line combinations could be?

I know you love doing this stuff, and I know it's too early to do this, and everything could change with one injury or whatever. But let's go through this exercise anyway just to show how many players the Canucks do have and the potential that they could put together. Well, so this is interesting because I think it'll be more about tandems at this point. So we know Miller and Besser are probably going to stay together. I guess at this point we expect that it's going to be Pedersen and DeBrusque going together.

And then you've got like Niels Hoaglander. Could he be a top six guy? Could Danton Heinen be a top six guy? You know, could Pugh Suter go back to the wing again and be a top six guy? I guess that sort of depends on whether they see him as a centerman or whether, you know, they'd be comfortable using him in a top six wing role like they did last year. You know, there is that third line that could be put together again. But also you could, you know, separate those guys. Like you could have Teddy Bluger on the fourth line.

You could put Suter in between Joshua and Garland. You could put Joshua and Garland on a line with Pedersen if you wanted as well. And then, you know, the fourth line, now you've got Kiefer Sherwood. You know, Danton Heinen would be an option down there. They've got young guys that'll come in and compete for spots. And, you know, if you don't use Shooter on the wing further up the lineup, then, you, I like the look of a potential fourth line going forward for this group. But all that said, I think the good thing about having this conversation is we can realize how many options that Rick Talkett is going to have

because a guy like Heinen can play both wings. He can play up and down the lineup. Suter's a guy that can play the middle or play the wing. He could be the third line center. He could be the fourth line center. There's going to be lots of room for tweaking and figuring out the best way to deploy these guys. I think that's going to be the most interesting thing about training camp

and some of these camp battles is ultimately what do the lines look like on, I guess it's October 9th now they announced the home opener against the Calgary Flames. Those Abbotsford guys better come in ready to play. Yeah, well, and this is a good thing too, because we've heard them talk so much about opportunity for young guys, but you don't want to have open spots on your roster that unproven players are going to have to fill.

There needs to be competition. And so now any of those guys in Abbotsford where Pod Coleson, Baines, Linus Carlson like you know there are players there that have NHL experience that they will have to beat out for jobs if they want to be a regular member of the Vancouver Canucks and you know that internal competition I think is so important you know you can't have those guys coming in, essentially thinking they've earned a roster spot already when they don't have any proven track record at the NHL level. So, you know, injuries can always change that and probably will.

As we know, it happens basically every year. But yeah, the internal competition is big and not just gifting some of these guys spots because you like the way they've developed, but making them earn it and making them come in and compete against some veterans who um you know who certainly uh have the experience and the the ability to play at the nhl level hey batch if the canucks do experiment with splitting up hughes and haronic and that's something they suggested alvin suggested yesterday they they

might want to do who would be the best bet to play with Hughes yeah that's that's tough I mean all of those guys on the right side have played with Hughes Noah Juleson not so much last year but two years ago he had some minutes there we know Myers has played with Hughes in the past. I guess Desjardins would be the only exception as a right shot guy coming in now. So, you know, that sort of remains to be seen, I guess. I would assume Myers at this point, just because he's sort of the top four caliber defenseman, if you want to call him that, in that mix. And then maybe you'd go with Soucy and Hronik and see what they can do. And then your third pairing is what your third pairing is,

but that's going to be another fascinating thing going into training camp is, you know, are they going to stick with Hughes and Heronic and say, okay, we're just going to play these guys close to half the game and we'll figure things out the rest of the time. Or is it a necessity that they separate them and that Heronic drive his own pair? Because last year there, you year, there was lots of talk about, oh, they need to play separately.

And we were looking at Cole McWard potentially as a partner for Quinn Hughes. And then they put them together and they never took them apart because they were so good. And through the first half of the season, they were one of the best pairings, if not the best pairing, in the entire National Hockey League. So as much as you want to talk about spreading things out, if they can continue to play at that kind of level,

it's going to be hard to keep them apart. But that said, you know, it may be a better option to separate them. I would lean Myers right now in terms of who would be the most likely to play there. But, you know, none of the options behind behind heronic look great in terms of guys that can help elevate queen hughes and so i do wonder if maybe there's another move to come if they can find one to bring in another right shot d to kind of round out uh their depth maybe a little bit higher up the lineup than some of the guys they brought in like forbert and day harney and then

um and then maybe that there's a better built-in partner for Hughes in that scenario, I guess. I'm really intrigued with Sherwood, the story behind him, because this management group's done a good job of unearthing late bloomers. I mean, I think Dakota Josh was probably the best example of it,

but if you look at the profile, Sherwood's been playing on one-year, two-way deals for the last like five or six you've seen his AHL numbers yeah it's crazy points in the AHL and then last year was career highs across the board at 29 and then you look at the games played and it's still sub 200 it almost feels like despite the fact that he's close to 30 there's a lot more to give and another ceiling to be reached whereas other guys that are getting close to that kind of age, you kind of already know what they are as players. That's intriguing to me.

Yeah, and Heinen's another guy in that conversation. He was on a PTO last year. He's always got one-year deals, and it feels like late in the summer sometimes that he's signed those deals, but he's been sort of a consistent bottom-of-the-line-up guy that has some offensive upside, too. So you bring in a few of these guys and they could really pop for you. And that's kind of what the Canucks are betting on.

And they're not just betting on it with some of the forwards like Sherwood, who, you know, as soon as they signed him, I liked that signing because I remember how effective I thought he was for Nashville in the first round series. And, you know, Heinen's a local product who we're all sort of aware of and have followed his game a little bit more closely because of that. So those signings are good.

But Alvin talked yesterday about betting on DeJarne, who doesn't have a ton of NHL experience but isn't exactly young, on being able to find another level in his game too. So, you know, since Rutherford and Alvin have taken over, the Canucks' pro scouting has done a very good job of, you know, since Rutherford and Alvin have taken over, the Canucks pro scouting has done a very good job of, you know, finding some of these guys that have been able to make an impact. And, you know, Dakota Joshua is sort of the star pupil of that class in terms of, you know, a guy that they found that didn't have much NHL experience that now, you know, could have signed a bigger deal than he did, I think, if he had gone to the open market rather than staying in Vancouver. So now that they've got the infrastructure they like in place, now that they've got the coaching staff they want,

they've got the organizational alignment, they've had some success, so they're an attractive place for players to come, they are betting that some of these guys that they like in terms of the way that they play, in terms of their upside, are going to flourish in a Rick Talkett system and under their tutelage with their coaching staff. So it'll be interesting to see if they can continue that because if they can, then that's a huge bonus,

not just for the players they've brought in this year and getting the most out of them, but going forward, if Kiefer Sherwood comes in and has a career year, then you can go to similar players that you want to target next year in free agency and go, look what we were able to do for Kiefer Sherwood comes in and has a career year, then you can go to similar players that you want to target next year in free agency and go, look what we were able to do for Kiefer Sherwood. We can do that for you as well. And it allows them to continue to add strong players down their lineup that can maybe overachieve relative to what they've done in their career in the past.

And more importantly, in a salary cap era, overachieve in terms of the contract and the number that they have to pay them. Batch, this was great, bud. Thanks for taking the time to do it. Try and enjoy the match on Saturday, okay? Yeah, we'll see if I have any fingernails left by the end of it. Thanks, boys. Have a good one. Thanks, Batch. Appreciate it.

That's Brendan Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Let's do two types of football in the next eight minutes. Okay. First, the soccer. Yesterday. Where do you want to start? Well, let's start with the Americans being out of Copa.

Mexico's out of Copa. The Americans are out of Copa. Canada, still in it. Canada and Panama flying the CONC calf flag the conca calf flag is just a briefcase of cash i don't know what it is why did the americans go out um they fell way short in two big moments they started the group very well they had a comprehensive victory they looked like they were on their way. And then they lost their heads. Timothy Weah took a very, very stupid red card in the second match against Panama.

And they lost to a team that they traditionally have had very good success against. USA and Panama play each other all the time. And CONCACAF, that should not have been a close match. It was. It should not have been a loss for the Americans. And you can't... This tournament has been defined by teams losing their heads. saw it twice against canada with peru taking a

red card and then chile taking a red card you just can't do it you can't fall into the traps that were set way it did they lost to panama then that put them in a must win against a uruguayan team that was the class of the group uh former leads manager marcelo bielsa is the manager there he's doing fantastic things with that team. They looked great. And then I don't know how much of the match you watched yesterday. It was a very classic Copa knife fight type match. It was testy and chippy and there were lots of fouls and the Americans

couldn't muster a goal. That's what it came down to is they couldn't generate the types of quality chances and they needed that goal to see them through, and they didn't do it. And now there's major questions about Greg Berhalter being the manager moving forward. And I'll say this, there's an unspoken seething jealousy from the Americans that Canada advanced and they didn't.

Good. Yeah. And then in Europe, own goal, man. Own goal has been so good. Going to win every award. OG is going to win every award at the Euros. And just scoring so many goals for different teams, man. Own goal has been so good. Going to win every award. OG is going to win every award at the Euros. And just scoring so many goals for different teams too. He's been terrific.

Sharing the wealth. He gets one for France. France beats Belgium 1-0. The only goal. Yeah, the only goal. Well, I mean, he's a big... OG, own goal and only goal. He showed up late in that match and he's been good.

And the other match match the very dramatic match between portugal and slovenia yeah which i didn't expect um ronaldo missed a pk yet it's saved yet it's saved yep superbly that's missing it that's missing for me superb save by oblock though yeah yeah it was a good save and then ronaldo uh and anyway yada yada yada uh portugal went on to win in in penalties which was also dramatic but i want to talk about ronaldo crying sure so okay uh i'll preface this by saying i play soccer with for a portuguese team I have lots of uh friends of mine that are Portuguese and are very good players I will add as well like some of them were uh spent a couple years playing uh low-level professionals so like I trust their opinions and all this stuff right

they're very Portuguese and they're very good soccer players so I trust their their opinions do they cry a lot they don't cry a lot um there's a it's a very conflicted over there it's a very I regret saying that on the air by the way Jordan, Jordan cry you, but we'll, we can deal with that later. Um, he's a very polarizing figure internationally. Ronaldo's always the foil to messy. It's Ronaldo and messy. Who's the goat who has better team success?

Well, internationally, especially lately, it's been messy and then ronaldo has sort of been cast as the um selfish narcissist yeah who demands everything and in moments like yesterday it plays out and the narrative plays perfectly because who's the guy taking all the free kicks ronaldo who's the guy that steps up to take the decisive penalty at the end of the match to give his team the win ronaldo who misses the penalty ronaldo who then breaks down in tears and kind of feels like he's making it all about himself in the biggest moment ronaldo it's not as black and white as this and there's much more nuance that i have been exposed to and i understand that um he is seen as so much more than a footballer not just just to Portuguese people,

but to his teammates and everything. His teammates all grew up idolizing him. Yeah, yeah. All of them. He is the- They've had incredible moments with him. He is the greatest export possibly in the country's history. He's iconic.

So there's a dynamic there that you just can't write away into a clever narrative because it's much more layered and nuanced and complex those guys you know they probably want those moments as well for themselves but there's an almost cooked into the recipe um like they defer to him yeah and it's just it's just because it's just the dynamic of the whole thing um we're going to talk with sean white the bc lines kicker and we're going to hope not to put the Halford and Jinx on this guy because this guy has been –

Halford and Jinx. Halford and Brough Jinx. Yeah, Halford and Jinx. Jason Jinx? You're not a Jinx. That is very accurate. The Halford and Brough Jinx onto Sean White because that guy has been making a lot of field goals lately.

Yep. So we'll talk to Sean coming up in just a few minutes, but first the CFL report. Yeah, the CFL report brought to you by Securian Canada. Okay, so here's what's going on this weekend. It's Sunday from Laddie's favorite field in Hamilton, Tim Horton's field. The two big stories going into this one,

for the BC Lions, health or lack thereof. They got some major injuries right now. They're banged up at wide receiver their starting middle linebacker is now out for the year with a torn ac torn acl so that's going to be a problem but the lions have won multiple games in a row now the interesting thing is that the lions have done this against some winless football teams including the winnipeg blue bombers and most recently the edmonton al Well, they get another winless football team now because the Hamilton Tiger Cats are 0-4 after losing on Sunday.

Lost a heartbreaker to the Red Blacks. Now, I was at a local establishment, and the game was on the television, so I paid close attention to it. And Bo Levi Mitchell actually had a really good game for the Tiger Cats. He threw forward 300 yards and a couple touchdowns, but they fell short. So you've got a BC Lions team that's done the business against a couple of winning teams. They get another one, the 0-4 Tiger Cats on the weekend.

That game, again, is going to be on Sunday. It's going to be on the road at Tim Hortons Field, and that was the Canadian Football Report brought to you by Securian Canada. Final hour of this program, as mentioned, more BC Lions content to come. We're going to talk to their red-hot kicker, Sean White, who's a sporting man like you and I, Jason.

He has a lot of interest in sports outside of football. He's a big Canucks fan. Big rugby guy, loves his footy, and he's into F1 as well, so we can talk to him about all that. And then in the final half hour of the show, we're going to do our usual What We Learns and everything, and it's your final half hour because you're going on vacation for a couple weeks. I am, yeah.

So this is a very emotional time for us. It's the last hour of Halford & Brough for the next little bit. Stay tuned, please. Sean White coming up next and then what we learned. It's all in the final hour of the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650.